Research led by Joseph Metzger, Ph.D., looked at potential causes for cardiomyopathy, specifically related to enterovirus infection.

“We already knew enterovirus infection can cause severe cardiomyopathy,” said Metzger, chair of the Department of Integrative Biology and Physiology in the University of Minnesota Medical School. “The 2A protease is encoded by the virus and cleaves the cytoskeletal protein dystrophin. What we wanted to know was what part of the process was causing the cardiomyopathy; the loss of dystrophin or the cleaving process.”

Inhibiting CtermDys could stop the disease mechanisms. The research shows the CtermDys cleaved dystrophin fragment severs the critical link to cortical actin, and also inhibits the compensatory utrophin from binding at the membrane. This potential for disruption makes CtermDys a good target for potential treatments in the future.

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